The bone warships opened fire, discharging volley after volley of dark, corrosive beams across the void. The pitch-black energy slammed against the newly formed barrier of Iron-Root Vines, sizzling violently as the dark mist tried to rot the plant matter away.
However, the living armor of the Heavenly Horizon Farm did not wither. Reinforced by the thirty-five million astral stones absorbed into its Ley Lines, the vines absorbed the kinetic force of the blasts, turning the raw impact into pure structural stability.
— Impressive defense, — the leading shadow hissed, raising a bone staff wrapped in swirling void runes. — But bone-rot qi does not merely strike the physical realm; it decays the soul!
The three shadows raised their hands in unison, casting a massive, pitch-black curse array that expanded over the island's sky. Dark, needle-like rain began to fall, aimed directly at the central fields where the Realm Core Tree and the new saplings grew.
— Little Ling, release the Stellar Flame Lilies, — Li Xian ordered calmly.
— Right away, Master! — Little Ling chirped, waving her tiny staff toward the eastern fields.
Below, dozens of Stellar Flame Lilies flared into brilliant, crimson-gold combustion. Instead of shooting fire outward, they released a dense, radiant mist that rose rapidly into the sky, neutralizing the corrosive rain on contact into harmless, sparkling steam.
— Now, let's see how your ships handle a real harvest, — Li Xian said softly, stepping forward into empty space.
He made a sharp grasping gesture toward the five bone warships.
— Domain Technique: Astral Net of Ten Thousand Roots!
From the bottom of the Heavenly Horizon Farm, hundreds of glowing, silver-and-green roots burst forth, weaving together into a titanic net that spanned for miles. Before the bone warships could activate their spatial jump drives, the net snapped shut around all five vessels, binding their hulls in a crushing grip. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
The bone material groaned under the immense pressure. The roots began to siphon the void energy directly out of the ships' power cores, feeding it straight into the Void-Sensing Grass, which bloomed in brilliant hues of violet and silver.
— Impossible! — the lead shadow shouted, its form flickering violently as its connection to the warships' energy grid snapped. — How can a mere cultivator manipulate void qi without being corrupted?!
— Corruption is just unrefined energy, — Li Xian replied smoothly, hovering right before the lead warship's bow. — In my garden, everything has its place.
With a final squeeze of his hand, the root net crushed the bone warships into fine cosmic dust, leaving behind five glowing, obsidian cores floating in the void. As the remaining shadows dissolved into nothingness, the newly awakened Void-Sensing Grass pointed deeper into the dark expanse, locking onto the distant coordinates of the Primal Seed Vault.